While your Facebook friends douse themselves with buckets of ice-cold water to raise money to fight amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, an international team of scientists said they'd taken a small step toward drowning out the deadly disease.

Researchers from the Scripps Research Institute and the Mayo Clinic developed a new drug that combats molecular contributors to ALS, which currently afflicts more than 30,000 Americans.

Health

5:09 pm

Tue February 25, 2014

Carl Moore, a former helicopter mechanic, was diagnosed with ALS 20 years ago. He has had unusual longevity for someone with ALS but expects someday to rely on his wheelchair and speech-generating device.

It's hard to imagine a more devastating diagnosis than ALS, also called Lou Gehrig's disease. For most people, it means their nervous system is going to deteriorate until their body is completely immobile. That also means they'll lose their ability to speak.

So Carl Moore of Kent, Wash., worked with a speech pathologist to record his own voice to use later — when he can no longer talk on his own.